“Within a few months of the second injection my buttocks began to harden. I knew something wasn’t right. But shame stopped me seeking medical help. As time went on it got worse as the skin blackened. I developed hard lumps. Then the searing pain started. I had to tell my doctor what I did. I was so ashamed.”

Brown spent the next four years in constant pain. Two surgeons told her it was too dangerous to remove the silicone.

She said: “I was in so much agony I became a regular at hospital asking for medication to ease what was like a combination of a migraine, childbirth and toothache localized in one area.

“I suffered day and night, so I was willing to do anything — including remove my buttocks.”

In February 2011 a surgeon operated unsuccessfully. Brown developed a hole in her buttocks — thought to be the trigger for an infection that in June was nearly fatal.&&#35;160;

She said: “I was 24 hours from dying. I didn’t think of leaving my family. It was a relief I’d finally be free of pain.”

Doctors put her in an induced coma for two months while performing 27 surgeries — starting with amputating her buttocks — and doing extensive skin grafts.

She said: “They saved me but gangrene set into my hands and feet. I was brought out of sedation shortly before I became a quadruple amputee.

“My hands looked like those of a dead person. I knew then I was going to lose them.”

She added: “At first you try to register your new limbs. The real comprehension comes when you start to live this new life.

“I had dark times. I cried a sea of tears. I had to face the fact I’d lost my hands, feet and buttocks because of complications from bottom injections. I was overwhelmed by shame and guilt... all because I wanted a bigger bottom.

“I was six months in hospital. By the time I was discharged I was determined to turn this terrible thing into something positive.

“I decided to do a triathlon. I told myself if I could achieve that I could do anything.

“I took my first steps again by the end of 2011. I built up to training six days a week, learning to walk, cycle then swim again using my residual limbs.

“I’d be crying in pain but I’d push through it. And six weeks ago I did it — completing a three-mile walk, ten-mile cycle and a 150-meter swim.

“When I crossed that finishing line with my family cheering me on, I cried tears of joy.”

She added: “I haven’t sued or sought compensation. I just want to move on. There are things I miss dearly — I’ll never be able to do my girls’ hair or feel sand between my toes.

“But I believe I survived to share my story.

“I want to warn others of the dangers of black-market surgery. We were born whole, perfect and complete.

“My greatest message is we have to learn to love and accept ourselves for who we are.”